Do you have everything you’d need for your family to survive for 72 hours without water, electricity or heat? Do you even know what you’d need if you were suddenly in that situation?
The Canadian Red Cross is hosting an Emergency Challenge to bring attention to the items needed in a survival kit for your home and where to find them. With the cooperation of Walmart, a scavenger hunt will be held October 23 from 1 to 3 pm at the Flin Flon store.
A maximum of four teams with three members each will be pre-registered for the event. Participating teams will be given a list of items needed in their survival kit and will be off and running to be the fastest team to secure those items.
“The purpose of the challenge is to bring attention to the items people would need if they were staying in their own home for 72 hours,” explained Beverly Erickson, Red Cross community coordinator for the Northern Region.
“In the event of a power outage you’d need candles, an alternate way to heat food, canned food and a can opener, flash lights and batteries, and bottled water is very important,” she said, listing some of the most important items in a kit.
While emergencies in the area during summer months tend to exist around the evacuation due to forest fires, that changes with the season.
“As we move into the winter months we are more concerned with being stranded due to a storm,” Erickson said.
Each year the Red Cross provides assistance to people in need, and a large team of volunteers is needed to provide that service.
Erickson explained that the organization is always looking for additional volunteers to assist in an emergency. While large scale crises often get the most attention, there are also a number of instances in communities where assistance is needed on a smaller scale.
“If someone is involved in a house fire, for example, the Red Cross will meet basic needs for 72 hours,” she explained. “There needs to be a plan in place to look after these people and volunteers to make it happen.”
Erickson is working to recruit enough volunteers in the local area to ensure citizens are looked after in all types of emergencies.
Anyone interested in volunteering with the Red Cross or participating in the friendly scavenger hunt competition in October can call Erickson at 204-797-5964.
